Educational device

ABSTRACT

An educational device comprises a polyhedron with each surface of the polyhedron containing printed family sounds extending transversely from the edges of the surface. A wheel, which may be mounted for rotation with respect to any of the surfaces, includes a rim bearing letters which cooperate sequentially with the family sounds extending from the edges of adjacent surfaces when the wheel is turned.

Tlrrited States Patent; m1:

Pitiiiips et a1.

[451 Aug, 7, 1973 EDUCATIONAL DEVTCE [76] Inventors: Morton Phillips,67-70 Yellowstone Blvd., Forest Hills, N.Y. 11375; Robert Klenosky,75-68 181st Street, Flushing, NY. 11365 [22] Filed: June 12, 1972 21App]. No.: 262,070

[52] US. CT. 35/35 1, 35/71 [51] Int. Cl. G091 17/00, G09b 1/36 [58]Field of Search 35/35 R, 35 J, 71, 35/72; 273/146 [56] References CitedUNITED STATES PATENTS 1,286,631 12/1918 Hillyard 35/71 2,583,805 1/1952Astle 35/72 UX Stolpen 1,224,742

Hillyer 35/35 H X 1,285,038 11/1918 Chance 35/35 H X 3,200,517 8/1965D'Agostino 35/35 H UX FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 622,219 6/1961Canada 35/71 1,017,766 10/1952 France 35/35 .1

11,484 1906 Great Britain 35/71 "M99 Eye n r-W H: Or Attorney-Harvey W.Mortimer, Michael J. Sweedler et al.

[5 7] ABSTRACT An educational device comprises a polyhedron with eachsurface of the polyhedron containing printed family sounds extendingtransversely from the edges of the surface. A wheel, which may bemounted for rotation with respect to any of the surfaces, includes a rimbearing letters which cooperate sequentially with the family soundsextending from the edges of adjacent surfaces when the wheel is turned.

3 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENIEDM B 11m 3. 750.307

sum 2 OF 2 m i, A WQ EDUCATIONAL DEVICE The present invention pertainsto educational devices. More specifically, this invention relates to adevice which is useful as an educational aid in teaching children how toread.

The object of this invention is to provide an educational, toy-likedevice which is attractive to children and will held to familiarize themwith a large number of family sounds and the different words which canbe formed from each family sound.

Briefly, in accordance with the invention, a polyhedron has a pluralityof printed family sounds on each of its surfaces. A wheel may be mountedfor rotation in each of the polyhedron surfaces. The wheel includes arim which bears letters adapted to cooperate with the family soundsextending from the edges of adjacent surfaces. By turning the wheel, achild can align the individual letters with a selected family sound andthereby learn to recognize the various family sounds and the differentwords which can be formed from them. By moving the wheel and/or turningthe polyhedron, the child can align the wheel with any of the familysounds on the polyhedron.

The invention is described in detail below the reference to the attacheddrawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the polyhedron of FIG. ll opened for thepurposes of storing the wheel;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the second embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view along the line 44 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4 modifiedfor the purpose of receiving individual cards to increase the capacityof the device.

In the preferred embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, a twelve-sidedpolyhedron or dodecahedron I is used. Only six surfaces of dodecahedron10 are visible in FIG. 1 and these surfaces are identified as surfacesl0,10,,. A wheel 12 is rotatably mounted within surface 10 As shown inFIG. 2, wheel 12 includes an integral spindle 14 which may be receivedin any one of the central apertures 16 located in the surfaces ofdodecahedron 10.

Each of the surfaces of dodecahedron 10 includes five printed familysounds which extend transversely from the edges of the surface towardits center. For example, surface 110 includes the five family sounds AT,

ET, IT, OT, and UT. The wheel 12 includes a rim 16.

which includes a multiplicity of separate facets (not numbered). Aseparate letter is printed on each of the facets of rim 16 in such a waythat the letter can be aligned visually with a family sound on anadjacent surface to form a word. For example, in FIG. 1, the wheel 12rotates within the surface 10 Of the surfaces shown in FIG. 1, theletters on the rim 16 of wheel 12 can be aligned with the family soundELT on surface 10 the family sound AT on the surface 10,, and the familysound AP on the surface 10,.

Although, generally, the actual construction of the polyhedron is not afeature of the invention, in the preferred embodiment, the polyhedronconsists of two sections 10A and 108 (see FIG. 2) which are separable sothat the polyhedron may be opened and used as a container for storingthe wheel 12 when the device is not being used. The two sections 10A and108 may be secured together in any desired way such as, for example, bythe use of screws 18 cooperating with threaded holes within interiortabs 20. It is also contemplated that the sections 10A and 108 may bemolded from plastic including interlocking male and female parts so thatthe two sections can be readily snapped together without the use ofseparate fastening means.

In practice, the user may be equipped with three separate dodecahedrons10 each of a different color and coded according to degree ofdifficulty. Similarly, a number of wheels 12 will accompany the blocks10. Each of the surfaces of each dodecahedron 10 will be numberedaccording to degree of difficulty so that a child may start by insertingthe simplest wheel 12 into the lowest-numbered surface of the easiestblock 10. He would turn the wheel 12 so that the letters on suc' cessivefacets of rim 16 are aligned with a selected family sound (e.g. familysound AT on surface 10,). As the wheel is turned, the readerpronouncesaloud each new word or sound (even a nonsense sound) t at is formed. Thechild would progress through each 0 the surfaces of the first block witheach available wheel, proceeding to the simplest surface on the nextmost difficult block and continuing until he had used all of the wheelswith all surfaces of the three blocks.

FIG. 3 shows a slightly different embodiment of the invention in whichthe polyhedron comprises a cube, five surfaces of which comprise a box22 covered by a snap-on closure 24. As shown in FIG. 4, cover 24 can beopened so that wheel 12 may be inserted into the box for storagepurposes. The cube, of course, is less complex than the dodecahydron ofFIG. I and provides fewer family sounds.

In the embodiment of FIG. 5, separate cards 30 may be inserted onto pins32 (or other protrusions) extending from a surface of the polyhedron. Inthis way, the capacity of the device may be increased without requiringthe use of separate blocks. Cards 30 may be stored with the wheel 12inside the box as shown in FIG. 4. The cards added may make up oneormultisyllable words or sounds, as word parts, affixes, prefixes,suffixes or other factors of the structural analysis of words.

As used in the specification and annexed claims, the term family soundis not limited to combinations of letters but is also intended toinclude numerals or other symbols which might be conveniently combinedfor educational purposes. Reference to words" includes nonsense words(or phonemes) as well as real words and other combinations which may beformed as the indicia on a wheel and aligned with a selected familysound. It is also contemplated that two wheels may be usedsimultaneously to form, for example, prefixes and suffixes with aselected family sound.

What is claimed is:

1. An educational device comprising a polyhedron, each surface of thepolyhedron containing printed family sounds extending transversely fromrespective edges of the surface toward its center, a wheel, and meansfor mounting said wheel for rotation about an axis through the center ofa selected one of said surfaces, said wheel including a circumferentialrim bearing letters each of which can be aligned with the family soundsextending on adjacent surfaces from the common edges defining saidselected surface.

2. An educational device according to claim 1, wherein said wheelincludes a plurality of facets with said facets bearing at least oneletter, the facets lying approximately parallel to the adjacent surfaceswhen aligned with a family sound.

3. An educational device according to claim 1, wherein said polyhedroncomprises at least two sections which may be separated to receive thewheel for storage purposes.

1. An educational device comprising a polyhedron, each surface of thepolyhedron containing printed family sounds extending transversely fromrespective edges of the surface toward its center, a wheel, and meansfor mounting said wheel for rotation about an axis through the center ofa selected one of said surfaces, said wheel including a circumferentialrim bearing letters each of which can be aligned with the family soundsextending on adjacent surfaces from the common edges defining saidselected surface.
 2. An educational device according to claim 1, whereinsaid wheel includes a plurality of facets with said facets bearing atleast one Letter, the facets lying approximately parallel to theadjacent surfaces when aligned with a family sound.
 3. An educationaldevice according to claim 1, wherein said polyhedron comprises at leasttwo sections which may be separated to receive the wheel for storagepurposes.